


Pieces of my Heart

by beggarscantbchoosers



Category: Da Vinci's Demons
Genre: All of Leo's other canon relationships p much, Alternate Universe - High School, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, Multi, Swearing, almost forgot that one, and implied Leario tho they never actually get together, background Leo/Jacapo, because I don't like sad endings, because Zo is well aware Riario's a dick, both in the past, so background Leo/Lucrezia, which is actually one of the most important ones whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 17:08:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3858361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beggarscantbchoosers/pseuds/beggarscantbchoosers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zo closed his eyes for a moment before swallowing and opening them again, focusing on Leo.<br/>“Leo.” He said, quiet but firm, serious. “If you go through with this – if you sleep with that madman – that’s it. I’m leaving.”</p><p>Zo has always been there for Leo, no matter what (or who) he'd done, or was planning to do... But not this time. This time, Zo has had enough. He has to look out for himself sometimes, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pieces of my Heart

**Author's Note:**

> The Widow's Tear becomes a broken arm. Seemed a little more reasonable in this particular AU.
> 
> Also on tumblr as "That's it, I'm done."

“Girolamo Riario? Really?” Zoroaster said flatly, dropping a heap of textbooks on the table; they landed with a thunk loud enough to be heard even over the chatter of the crowded lunch hall, and the table jerked, taking Leo’s arm with it and making him scrawl a thick line across his maths homework. He hissed and grabbed his pencil case, fumbling through it for a rubber before attempting to fix the damage.

“This is due in next period, Zo!” He whined, scowling over at his friend as the other boy sat down at the table opposite him, arms folded, his own face fixed in a disapproving glare. Leo’s attention turned abruptly to the heap of books which had caused the problem; his eyes narrowed, head tilting ever so slightly to the side as he read the titles. “Those aren’t your books.” He murmured quietly. “Where is Nico?”

“Takin’ a piss.” Zo replied, leaning forwards suddenly, recapturing Leo’s attention. “I nicked his books so I could make a better entrance. Leo, fuckin’ listen to me here: Do. Fucking. NOT. Under _any_ circumstances, hook up with Riario. He’s a fucking psycho, he’ll rip you to shreds just for fun. Look at what he did to Nico!”

“I can’t, Nico’s not here. Probably looking for his books, actually. You should return them. And besides, who said I was going to hook up with Riario?” Leo murmured, returning to his maths homework after a moment.

“This does.” Zo said, ignoring the majority of his friend’s speech to focus on the question; he tugged one of Leo’s own books out from the middle of the pile and flicked through. In the margins and gaps on every page were dozens of doodles in the artist’s familiar style; faces, hands and various other body parts, whatever had caught his eye at the time, along with trees, patterns, equations, designs for fantastic machines… Except for the past week or so. Slowly, all the variety had seeped out from the pages, leaving behind just one figure: Girolamo Riario. His face, his eyes, his hands – once, a full body sketch, the tail end of Leo’s notes cramped and twisted around it. Leo stared at the damning evidence for a moment, then shrugged.

“He has an interesting bone structure.” He said, apparently unaffected by Zo’s accusations. “I draw people all the time Zo, this is hardly news to you.”

“Not this obsessively. Before this, the last person you sketched this much was Lucrezia Donati, who you then slept with. Before _her,_ it was Jacapo Saltarelli who – wait for it – you slept with.”

“Yes, not my finest hour.” Leo muttered, attention once again back on his homework; he turned the page in his book and began to copy up the question he’d been working on before. “He’s still texting me almost every day, can’t you do something about that?”

“Me? Why me?” Zo asked, hands spread before him, obviously at a loss and quite possibly gearing himself up for a good rant.

“Well, you’re my boyfriend.” Leo pointed out reasonably enough, taking the wind out of Zo’s sails quite effectively. “One of them, at any rate, and we can’t be getting poor Nico in any more trouble, especially not whilst he’s still got that cast on.”

“Are you asking me to beat up your ex?” Zoroaster asked, incredulous. Leo looked up again, blinking and looking quite bemused.

“He’s not really my ex.” He corrected Zo, gesturing with his pencil for emphasis. The side of his hand was stained with graphite. “More of an... Ill-advised fling, if you will.”

“Mate, I would rather you fuckin’ _eloped_ with Saltarelli than so much as _looked_ at Riario-”

“Are you jealous?” Leo asked, abruptly, cutting Zo off before he could finish. He leant forwards, grinning slightly at his oldest friend. “Is that what this is? Are you _jealous_ that someone else has my attention, Zoroaster?”

“No.” Zo said flatly, no trace of his usual humour in his tone. “Jealousy comes at one in the morning when you and Nico are tucked up nice and warm in bed and I’m stood outside a club in the freezing cold, checking IDs so I can earn enough to pay for my uniform. This? This is _fear_ , Leo. This is sitting in the _police station_ at one in the morning, with Nico curled in my arms crying because they’ve just found your body beaten and bloodied in a back alley. He’s already gone after me and Nico, Leo. You’re the last one, _and_ the one he hates most.” He narrowed his eyes, slamming his hands down on the table to draw Leo’s attention back to the seriousness of the moment. “He _broke Nico’s arm_ , Leo! Just for hanging out with you!”

“Quiet, Zo.” Leo murmured, glancing around to see the attention their conversation was garnering. Zo huffed and slouched back in his chair.

“Don’t ‘quiet Zo’ me, Leo, you’re not my mother.” He scowled, glaring at the other boy.

“Well observed.” Leo said dryly, glancing up and behind Zo, gaze softening briefly. “Finally, Nico. Was starting to think you’d gotten lost.”

“It’s not easy washing my hands around this.” Nico complained, hefting his plaster encased arm briefly. Zo winced in sympathy and reached up to pull Nico into the chair next to him, though for once, he didn’t sling an arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, instead reaching down to grasp Nico’s uninjured hand in his own for a moment, squeezing it tight and smiling apologetically.

“Sorry, Nico. Next time I’ll hang back to help.” He promised, forcing a laugh. Nico frowned at his boyfriend’s strange behaviour, turning to Leo for an explanation; the other boy raised an eyebrow, shrugging.

“Zo seems to think I’m pining for Riario.” He said, the smirk on his face and sarcasm in his voice showing just what he thought of that suggestion. Nico didn’t laugh, though. His head drooped, shoulders hunching, and he laced his fingers through Zo’s.

“Ah.” He murmured in lieu of a response, and Leo looked between them for a moment in shock, before he flung himself back in his seat, dropping his pencil atop his books, and crossed his arms.

“I can’t believe this.” He muttered, glancing away. His expression hardened with stubborn determination, and Zo, seeing it, closed his eyes for a moment before swallowing and opening them again, focusing on Leo.

“Leo.” He said, quiet but firm, serious. “If you go through with this – if you sleep with that madman – that’s it. I’m leaving.”

“So you are jealous!” Leo accused, pointing at Zo; his hand faltered, however, when he saw Zoroaster’s sorrowful, pained expression; Zo shook his head slowly.

“I will _not_ stand at your grave, Leo. Not yours. When they call me to give me the news? I won’t answer. I _can’t._ You’re my oldest friend, and I love you. Losing you too? That’d kill me. So if you’re dead set on this Riario thing then fine, I won’t stop you. But don’t expect me to hang around and mourn you either.” Leo paused for a moment, staring at Zo as if to gauge how serious he was, then snorted.

“You wouldn’t just leave, Zo. You’ll go wherever Nico goes, and he’s not leaving, are you?” He directed his question at Nico, who was staring between his boyfriends, distraught. The younger boy hesitated, then shook his head slowly, hand clenched tight around Zo’s.

“If he had any sense, he would.” Zo huffed, before bringing Nico’s hand to his mouth to kiss it, briefly, eyes sad. “Stay out of trouble, kid. Don’t let him push you around too much.” He murmured, before disentangling his fingers from Nico’s, ignoring how the youngest tried to grab at him, and picked up his bag from where he’d dropped it next to his seat when he’d sat down.

“Zo…” Nico said, voice quavering slightly. Zoroaster just smiled at him, sadly, before turning back to glare at Leo.

“You take care of Nico, Leo. Or I’ll kill you myself.” He said, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder. Leo stared at him, too shocked to speak, and Zo turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving two aghast, disbelieving boys behind him.

“I probably shouldn’t find that hot.” Leo murmured, and Nico turned on him, eyes fierce.

“Go after him.” He said, folding his arms, with some difficulty due to the cast. Leo looked affronted.

“Go after him? Why?” He asked, and Nico, sweet Nico with the blond curls and the big blue eyes and the baby face that still hadn’t quite grown out of its childish roundness, shot him a glare stern enough to make even the notoriously fearless Leonardo da Vinci wince. Unlike most people, he knew exactly what his younger boyfriend was capable of. “Okay, okay.” He sighed, gathering his books and shoving himself to his feet. He paused, glancing from Nico to the large pile of textbooks on the table. “Will you be alright?” He asked, nodding at Nico’s cast. The blond shrugged.

“I’ll manage. ‘Nessa’s around somewhere anyway, she’ll help me if I need a hand. It’s more important that you go talk to Zo.” He added, firmly. Leo sighed, huffing in a rather over dramatic fashion.

“Do I have to?” He whined. Nico just nodded, fishing his lunch out of his bag and unwrapping his sandwich.

“Hurry up, he can’t have gone far.” He said, around a mouthful of white bread and ham. Leo grumbled, but acquiesced, trailing out in the direction Zo had gone.

 

He found the other boy leaning against a particularly large tree in the copse of trees at the one of the edges of the school’s expansive grounds, glowering at nothing. The scattered butts of dozens of cigarettes marked it as a favourite spot for those sneaking off for a quick smoke. Zo, it seemed, was joining those who had gone before.

“I thought you were giving up?” He called once he was close enough; Zo turned with a sneer and blew smoke in Leo’s face. The artist raised his eyebrows and refused to react, fighting the watering of his eyes and catch of his breath.

“Nico sent you.” Zo asked after a moment, grudgingly impressed by Leo’s determination to ignore his body’s natural responses to getting a face full of smoke.

“What, I can’t come to the realisation I’m being a twat of my own accord?” Leo asked wryly, declining Zo’s offer of a cigarette. Zo shot him a considering look for a moment, then shook his head, smiling slightly despite himself. Still, it was small, and a little sad, his eyes tight at the corners.

“Leonardo da Vinci would never consider himself anything less than fuckin’ perfect.” He answered acerbically, throwing the still glowing butt of his cigarette to the ground and grinding it into the soil with his heel before shoving his hands in the pockets of his dark slacks. Leo smiled at him fondly; despite many warnings from many teachers, Zo still refused to abide by the private school’s strict uniform code; his shirt was untucked and unbuttoned almost to the midpoint, the sleeves rolled up to above his elbow. His tie and blazer were absent, probably stuffed in his locker or ‘forgotten’ at home. The rumpled look suited him, though, and whatever the teachers said, it would be _terrible_ publicity for them to expel the orphaned scholarship kid on the grounds of his uniform. Of course, there were plenty of other reasons they wanted to expel him, but Leo had always been very careful to leave nothing that could link Zo, or Nico or himself, for that matter, to any of their pranks. The last time someone had gotten close to finding proof, Leo had concocted an elaborate plan to get blackmail material on the man in question. Zo and Nico had helped him, of course… Zo most of all. Zo had always been there for him, done almost anything Leo asked of him without question (though admittedly, not without complaint), and here was Leo being completely unreasonable about what was really a quite sensible request.

“Well, Leonardo da Vinci, the genius but possibly unhinged illegitimate son of MP Piero da Vinci… He’s pretty flawless. Leo the almost definitely unhinged boyfriend of the two most forgiving and long suffering guys on the planet?” He shifted his weight to nudge his shoulder against Zo’s before continuing. “He’s kind of a dick, apparently.” Zoroaster let out a brief bark of laughter.

“Alright, now I know something’s wrong with you.” He teased, nudging Leo back. “And whaddaya mean, _boyfriend_?” He asked, sobering. “I told you I was done with you.”

“You said that you’d leave if I went after Riario.” Leo shrugged. “I won’t. I can’t promise I’ll stop drawing him, but…” He turned, ducking his head slightly to catch Zo’s downcast eyes, expression serious. “I promise I will do my best to stay away from him. And unless circumstances beyond my control conspire to make it so, I won’t sleep with him.”

“Circumstances beyond your control?” Zo asked, sceptically. Leo grinned and shrugged, unapologetic.

“You know, like… Hypnotism or aliens. Maybe drugs.”

“You’re almost always on something.” Zo said sullenly, and Leo laughed.

“And that’s why I need you and Nico there.” He said, reaching out to catch Zo’s hand, stepping into the other’s personal bubble, still grinning. “To keep an eye on me whilst I’m soaring.” He lifted Zo’s hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the knuckles, mirroring the other’s actions from earlier, but then he turned Zo’s hand over to kiss his palm too, before tucking his jaw into the hand and stepping another half inch closer, until there was no space between them. He draped his arms over Zo’s broad shoulders. His smile hadn’t wavered once, and Zo finally gave in, shaking his head with a fond chuckle.

“You’re nuts.” He said, warmly, sliding the hand on Leo’s jaw around to curl in the short hairs at his nape, the other settling on his boyfriend’s hip. “I’m not kidding about Riario. He’s dangerous.”

“Good thing I’ve got a big strong boyfriend to look after me then, hmm?” Leo asked, fluttering his eyelashes ridiculously, earning himself another laugh from Zo.

“Completely nuts.” He repeated, shaking his head again, before leaning in for a kiss.

“Mmm… Don’t worry Zo, I’m sure Nico will protect you too, if you ask nicely.” Leo teased, and Zo drew back to sock him in the shoulder; Leo just laughed aloud and pull Zo back into another kiss. There was quiet for several minutes, before the faint echoes of the bell reached them from the school building. Zo pulled back with a sigh. “We could always skip and stay here.” Leo suggested, smirking and sliding his hands down to Zo’s waist, before sneaking them under the hem of his shirt, settling on the bare skin beneath.

“Maybe you can ace your exams without ever attending a class Leo, but not all of us are possibly unhinged geniuses.” Zo replied, air quotes audible in his voice, a grin and fond look softening the dismissal, before disentangling himself and ducking over to the tree to retrieve his bag. Leo sighed, a mite more dramatically than the situation demanded, and pouted. Zo walked back over, brushing a thumb over Leo’s bottom lip before chucking him sharply under the chin. “Leave the puppy eyes to Nico, sweetheart, he wears it better.” He said, smirking, and Leo huffed again, before glancing up uncertainly at his best friend.

“So… We good?” He asked, attempting to sound flippant. Zo sighed.

“I’m still pissed at you.” He said, honestly. “I never cared about the whoring around before, but now there’s Nico to consider. The kid adores you-”

“Not just me.” Leo cut in, knowing his best friend sometimes failed to believe just how much both his boyfriends loved him. Zo just shot him a look.

“Regardless, Nico adores you, and even if he pretends not to care…” He trailed off, shrugging. “I know it bothers him.” Leo frowned at the ground for a long moment, long enough that Zo gave up waiting for him and began walking.

“Zo.” Leo said, causing him to stop in his tracks and glance back. The other boy was smiling, not his usual exuberant grin, but rather one of the smaller, sly smiles he usually wore when he was planning something. “Here.” He reached into the inside pocket of his blazer and withdrew a battered notebook, the one he carried everywhere and yet never let anyone, not even Zoroaster or Nico, see inside. Then, to Zo’s surprise, he tossed it over; the other boy fumbled but managed to catch it, looking down at the worn cover before looking back up at Leo’s face, waiting for an explanation. Leo shrugged helplessly, still smiling. “I just thought you deserved to see what’s in there.” He said, before shrugging his bag higher up his shoulder and beginning to walk back towards the school. Zo stared after him for a moment, forgetting all about class, before glancing down at the notebook. He turned it over in his hands, staring at it reverentially for a long moment before he finally dared crack it open… And flicked through page after page of his own face, hands, body, staring back at him. About halfway in, Nico’s familiar features began to appear amongst the sketches of Zo, sometimes with him, sometimes alone, but never with anyone else. The entire notebook was dedicated just to them, to Zo and Nico, each page crammed full of sketches and doodles. Leo had drawn them both before, of course, many times, but he’d never been shy about hiding those. This… This was an entire notebook’s worth of sketches from the heart, that he’d never shown anyone, and Zo had known Leo long enough to realise that the only things he was reluctant to show off were the ones he cared about most. His secret projects.

“That little…” Zo breathed, staring at a particularly detailed sketch of himself and Nico, the younger boy sprawled comfortably across his lap, laughing, whilst he himself stared down at the blond. He hadn’t known his face could look that soft, that _loving._ He rubbed his thumb along the edge of the pages, laughing quietly in surprise, smiling to himself. He didn’t know it, of course, but if anyone had been close enough to see his expression as he stared down at that battered, well used notebook, it near glowed with adoration for his mad genius boyfriend. He shook his head, still smiling, and reluctantly tucked the notebook into his bag to keep it safe, then looked up to find Leo had made it halfway across the grounds whilst he was engrossed in the sketchbook. He shouldered his bag, then broke into a run, grinning as he chased after his boyfriend.

 

“Hey, Leo, wait up you little shit!”


End file.
